Ice-cream carton lifting, scraping, and cutting tool



March 10, 1953 5. SMITH 2,630,591

ICE-CREAM CARTON LIFTING, SCRAPING, AND CUTTING TOOL Filed Dec. 4, 1950 INVENTOR S ey Smirh Patented Mar. 10, 1953 ICE-CREAM CARTON LIFTING, SCRAPING,

AND CUTTING TOOL Sydney Smith, Bremerton, Wash. Application December 4, 1950, Serial No. 199,100 1 Claim. (c1. 15-405) The present invention relates to an ice-cream carton lifting, scraping, and cutting tool, and more particularly to a tool presenting a lifting hook, an arcuate scraping edge, and a cutting edge.

In ice-cream fountains the bulk ice-cream is usually stored in cylindrical cardboard cartons perforce kept in refrigerated compartments. When a carton is nearly empty, it is a common practice to scrape the ice-cream adhering to the inside Wall of the empty upper portion of the carton down into the remaining ice-cream at the bottom thereof, and then to out 01f most of this upper scraped portion so that the remaining icecream at the bottom is more readily accessible. The ice-cream deliverymen often do this in order to make room for a maximum of filled cartons and thus shorten the number of deliveries required to keep the particular customer adequately supplied. Such a practice also assures a minimum of ice-cream waste since otherwise the difficulty anticipated in the task of reaching and scooping out all of the ice-cream at the bottom of the nearly empty cartons often tempts the ice-cream fountain employes into throwing out the cartons without performing the task.

However, the chore of lifting the carton from the freezing compartment, scraping down the ice-cream, and cutting off the empty portion of the carton has been a time consuming and aggravating one as it has required three different tools, and namely a plier-like carton gripping device, a scraper, and a knife, respectively. Moreover, this time consuming characteristic is often magnified by the common human tendency to misplace one of the tools. Many fountain proprietors insist that the deliverymen use their own tools and hence the deliverymen are frequently burdened with carrying three tools from one delivery stop to another in order to maintain good will.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a single tool of simple and economical construction by the use of which the above described carton lifting, scraping, and

2. ance of its lifting function, the carton to which the tool is applied being shown fragmentarily and in longitudinal vertical section. In this as in the other views of the drawing the hand of the user is shown by broken lines.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the tool and carton to illustrate the tool in the performance of its scraping function.

Fig. 3 complements Fig. 2 by illustrating the carton in longitudinal vertical section and show ing in side elevation the tool in its scraping func tion. This, as with the previous view, shows the ice-cream in outline; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view showing the tool in the performance of its cutting function.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 and 3 thereof, it can be readily seen that the tool of the present invention utilizes a flat blade l0 having a blunt arcuate scraping edge I l at one end and a reduced portion I2 at its other end, with the scraping edge and the edges of the handle portion being joined by two gently curved side edges 13 and M. It will be noted that a handle for the tool is formed by securing handle sections l5 and I6 to the opposite faces of the reduced handle portion l2, and this is accomplished by the use of rivets ll passing through mating holes in the handle portion and handle sections. The securingedge endportion of the side edge I3 is formed with a concave curved recess shaped to provide a hook bill l8 directed toward the handle end of the tool. This hook bill is preferably pointed at its tip end. The corresponding portion of the other side edge I4 is sharpened to provide a cutting edge 20, and this cutting edge preferably extends slightly onto the respective end of the scraping edge as best shown in Fig. 1.

Before explaining the manner of use of the tool, it should be noted that most cardboard ice-cream cartons are provided with a metal upper rim clamped to the cardboard. In the drawings such a carton and metal rim are identified by the numerals 2| and 22, respectively. To lift the carton 2| from the freezing compartment the hook bill I8 is utilized, and namely by forcing the top of the bill into the cardboard directly beneath the rim 22 as shown in Fig. 1 so that the bill grasps the rim. When this is done the carton can be readily lifted from the compartment with the hook bill supporting the weight thereof.

The ice-cream adhering to the empty portion of the carton and denoted by 23 is scraped by tilting the tool at approximately forty-five degrees to the vertical and forcing the scraping edge against the inside wall of the carton while pushing downwardly. In this regard it is important to note that the curvature of the scraping edge is such that it matches that of the carton when the tool is tilted, and this is illustrated particularly in Fig. 2. Since the cartons are of a standard diameter in the ice-cream trade, the scraping edge always has the proper curvature.

After the scraping operation is completed the carton is grasped and as shown in Fig. 4, the cutting edge is used to cut off the empty portion of the carton. In this regard, the relatively abrupt juncture of the side edge It and scraping edge is particularly helpful in starting the cut in the carton.

It is thought that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of my now preferred embodiment. Minor changes in the details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I intend that the. hereto annexed claim be given a scope fully commensurate with the broadest interpretation which the employed language fairly permits.

What I claim is:

A tool for lifting, scraping, and cutting partly empty cardboard ice-cream cartons and comprising, a blade and a handle at one end thereof, said blade having an arcuate convex scraping edge opposite from the handle and two side edges converging from the ends of the said scraping edge toward the said handle, one of said side edges being provided with a concavity adjacent the scrapin edge forming a hook whose bill is directed away from the said scraping edge for gripping the upper rim of a said carton so that the same can be readily lifted, and the other said side edge having a sharpened portion extending toward the handle from the scraping edge whereby the empty upper portion of the lifted carton can be cut off after any ice-cream adhering to the side walls. of, said empty portion has been scraped down by the use of the said scraping edge of the tool.

SYDNEY SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED. STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 123,497 McCarraher Feb. 6, 1872 853,367 Malory May 14, 1907 1,325,540 Spahr Dec. 23, 1919 1,542,075 Mitchell June 16, 1925 2,234,242 Gilbert Mar. 11, 1941 

